RING (english version)
by Roselyne
Summary: *prolog corrected* Feeling his death coming soon, Aragorn writes down the memories of the events regarding the war of the One Ring... as well as the SECOND war of the One Ring, created inadvertantely by Legolas... - *new chapter :) *
1. Intro - Memories for the Future

_**Disclaimer:** as usual, Tolkien's characters belong to... Tolkien (d'oh!), the others are mine ;-)_

**RING  
Prolog: Memories for the Future  
**

The room was dark. The only window in the thick stony was revealing a forest in night-time. The only source of light in that room, a candle with a flickering flame, allowed to distinguish a human shape, leant on a table where some parchmins were laying in a chaotic pattern. 

Aragorn was staring at the parchmin sheet before him. He couldn't figure out the time that had flown since he had taken this eagle feather in his hand. He seemed reluctant to put words on the paper. And yet... Yet, people had to know. There ought to besomeone after his death to know, remember, and spread the names of forgotten heroes and old times follies.

  
_'This world had to change, soon or late. Yet the events that followed the war of the One Ring lead to other terrors. And in my turn, I'll soon be taken away.'_

Aragorn read again his last sentence. Written down on the parchmin, it seemed to seal what he refused to admit. He was reaching the end of his life. He could feel his strengths leaving him. But he first had to write down his memories before falling asleep for one last time. It was going to be a long night, he thought. A very long night...

_'The destruction of the One Ring in the Mount Doom wasn't the end...'_

_'But I am a little bit too far in the story...'_

_'For everything started before the destruction of the One Ring...'_

He paused, then felt melancholy and sadeness filling his heart, and he leant again on the parchmin.

  
_This story is about..._

He paused, hesitating.

_... love._

He went on after a moment. _'The one I loved is...'_

Again, he hesitated on the term to use. Everything seemed so confusing in his memory. Then he wrote what seemed to be the most logical word. _'dead...'_

  
_'It's in the year 1346 that Sauron made his return in Middle Earths and claimed tham as his. Some years later, his army was so immense that one started to think that no mortal would be able to defeat him.'_

_'Against his attacks, Middle Earth was diving deeper and deeper into the darkness'_

_'To counter him, the High-elven counsil of Rivendell decided to create a Fellowship of fighters, whose fate would be to destroy the weapon Sauron needed to conquest the world. The Ring of Power. The Ring to rule all the other rings...'_

_'The One Ring...'_

Aragorn gave himself a break, still wondering if it was not pure folly to reveal everything, as if suddenly he was dreading the way people would look at him beyond the grave...

Then he remembered a particular face. A loved face.

And, as he was putting again the eagle feather on the parchmin, he thought that perhaps.... one day... someone would understand...

[to be continued :-) ]

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_A fic I started (in french) on my birthday :p I dunno if the english translation will sound good, but as the french version is already at chapter 3, the continuation in english won't take too long :p_


	2. Chapter 1 - Mount Doom

_**Disclaimer:** as usual, Tolkien's characters belong to... Tolkien (d'oh!), the others are mine ;-)_

**RING  
Chapiter one: MOUNT DOOM  
**

Mordor, the Mount Doom

Finally they had managed to reach it. All hells were braking loose in the war below, in the valley, between the human and elfish army, and Sauron's armies of orcs and hybrid creatures. His power seemed to grow with the ring being so close. And Frodo was right in the middle of the enemy's territory. He was standing on the cornice, a few feet only from the edge overhanging the gaping pit similar to an inferno. Sam was a few feet behind him and the only things he could see of Frodo was his back. 

'What is he waiting for?', Sam wondered, ignoring how long Frodo had been standing at the endge of the gap, tensed and still as a statue. These latest days, his behavior had become rather bizarre...

Sam turned his head away one moment to look behind him, worried that some one their enemies would burst in to prevent the ring-bearer to destroy the One Ring. Sam was ready to fight with his meager strength until the end, may it be against a Troll if needed, if only it could win a few seconds to Frodo for him to throw away te Ring into the flames of Mordor.

Behind him, blocking the access to the cornice, Sam could see Aragorn, Gimli and Legolas fighting furiously against enemies who were charging with the energy of despair, as if they understood the emergency of the situation. The Human, the Dwarf and the Elf almost seemed out of energy, covered of bruises and cuts. And yet, they kept on inflicting serious losses in the enemies clan. Soon Legolas turned out of arrows and his blades started singing. 

Sam turned towards Frodo. "Master Frodo!!!!", he screamed to indicat the emergency of the situation when he realized that Frodo hadn't moved an inch. At the shout from his friend, Frodo slightly startled and left his torpor. He turned slowly towards Sam and spoke with a voice clear and strong. In fact, clearer and stronger than anything Sam could remember from his Master. Frodo's voice was echoing on the walls of the Mount.

"I came until here", he started, "yet I choose not to do what was initially planned. I won't do that folly! The ring is mine!". 

Removing one of his daggers from the body of an orc, Legolas casted a glance behind him to see where was Frodo. He knew that the ring hadn't been destroyed yet, for he could still feel through the orcs, Sauron's power radiating from the heart of Mordor. 

Aragorn had ceased to feel the fatigue. Under the effect of the combat, his body seemed to generate his own energy. He knew he would pay this dearly the next day. If next day there was one. Months and months spent in this quest and the decisive moment was here and now. He was cutting through orcs and uruk-hais without any distinction, knowing that soon the war would be over. This thought seemed to give him strength he was ignoring he ever had.

Nevertheless, he wasn't totally blinded by the fight. He saw on his right an orc rushing towards Legolas with a twisted blade... And Legolas who wasn't paying attention to the fight anymore, but seemed paralyzed while staring at the place where Frodo and Sam were.

Aragorn reacted quickly and intercepted the orc before he could harm Legolas. He turned towards the elf to make a fast comment, but realized that the elf wasn't standing there anymore. Gazing towards Frodo and Sam, he saw that only Sam was standing on the cornice, Legolas rushing in his direction. 

Frodo had disappeard...

Aragorn felt a cold wae moving inside of him. "No..." was all he could whispered, almost in echo to Legolas' scream.

"The ring is mine!"

Legolas wondered if the rage from the fight wasn't giving him auditive illusions. Yet, Frodo's behavior, and his voice, confirmed the fears he had for a long time for the ring-bearer. One couldn't stay close to the Ring without being influenced. He understood in a flash what Frodo was going to do and ran owards him to prevent the Inevitable.

"NOOOO!!!!"

Frodo passed the One Ring to his finger and disappeard from Sam and Legolas' eyes. But it was without considering the sight, the speed and the reflexs od the elf. Frodo was perhaps unvisible to mortals' eyes, but Legolas would see the dust movement on the floor, and hear the sound Frodo's steps were making. Calculating from the position Frodo had the previous second, he could guess the way his body was going to be.

Sam felt something hitting violently his back, and projecting him to the ground, his head hitting a rock on the way, he just had the time to glimpse Legolas flying over him before the darkness of unconsciousness engulfed him.

It was the last time he ever saw the elf.

[to be continued ;-) ]

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_*Roselyne wears her long black jacket and starts avoiding the flying rotten tomatoes in Slow Motion; the flying tomatoes make riddles in the air as they pass over and around the author*_

_I know, I'm a sadic to finish this chapter here, but next one shouldn't take long to appear ;)_

_If you saw grammar mistakes in this text, remember that english is just my second langague :) yet I'd be eager to correct those mistakes, so, don't hesitate to tell me about them ^_____________^_


	3. Chapter 2 - Under The One's influence

_**Disclaimer:**   
As usual, Tolkien's characters belong to .......... Tolkien! :D (c'mon, this was an easy one :p )  
__The others? Bah, they are mine ;)_

**RING  
Chapter Two: Under The One's influence  
**

In the depths of Mordor, at the very moment Frodo was putting the ring on his finger, Sauron felt the power in Barad-dûr shake and realized what was happening. His Eye covered great distances and discovered the plan of his enemies as he saw Frodo on the cornice. He reacted at once - cursing his own stupidity - and concentrated all his strength and power on the nine Nazguls which he sent, faster than the wind, to the South towards Mount Doom. 

The elfish and human army, who were still fighting against the armies of beats, felt their enemies distracted and weakened; and even though they didn't understand the reason of that change, they doubled their efforts and took the opportunity to invert the balance between Light and Darkness.

Aragorn didn't understand right away what had happened. From his point of view, Frodo had jumped - or had fallen - with the ring inside the flames. Legolas could be fast, Aragorn doubted - even if hoping against all odds - that the elf could be fast enough to catch Frodo in his fall. Unless he had seen Frodo grabbing the edge of the cornice, what Aragorn himself was not able to see from where he was standing. He saw Legolas hitting violently Sam in his movement and going on as Sam was collapsing on the ground. Then he saw Legolas leaping forward.

"He'll be too short", Aragorn tought. "He'll never reach the edge by jumping so early... Even as an elf..." And his estimation prooved to be right as Legolas hit the ground 5 feet from the end of the cornice.

But the events that followed puzzled Isildur's heir. Legolas didn't leap again towards the edge of the cornice but seemed to be in a fierce fight against some invisible enemy. It didn't take long for Aragorn to understand. It wasn't the first time that Frodo was using the One Ring, and he had already witnessed the results it could give.

At the moment of impact, Legolas felt Frodo's shoulder smashing his left eyebrow. He had miscalculated the young hobbit's position, but he could still correct that mistake. Even if slightly stunned by the shock, he strengthened his hold by grabbing Frodo's right arm while the hobbit was fighting like a fury, and blocking the ring-bearer with all his strength against the ground with his free hand. He caught Frodo's invisible hand in his right eye and could do nothing to avoid the blow, unable to see the movement of his opponent. He let go a cry, but with a swift movement, he raised his hand near his right eye and caught Frodo's left wrist. He closed his eyes. The sight was of no use in this kind of fight and he prefered to protect his eyes from other attacks. He focused on his other senses. He knew he had grabbed the good wrist from the way Frodo doubled his struggle to get free of the elf.

Legolas released the hobbit's right arm and moved his now free hand against Frodo's left hand, rolling on himself and blocking Frodo under his weight, now only offering to the halfling his back and his shoulders, part of his bodiy far less sensitive to fist, feet and claws, than his throat or his face. He had to act fast before Frodo remembered of the dagger he was still wearing at his belt.

Just as Legolas' fingers were getting in contact with the Ring, he felt like an bolt passing through him, leaving him a strange sensation of pricklings in his muscles, and he could hear Frodo's voice like through a storm.

_"It is mine! Thief! It's mine! It's my precious!"_

Frodo's voice seemed deformed and foul. Nothing Legolas could remember of the young hobbit. The Ring really had the power to alter people from the inside. If he managed to free Frodo from the ring, perhaps, with time flying, Frodo would become again as he was before the ring arrived in his hands so long ago now... But Legolas doubted... All those who had once been in physical contact with the ring were changed for life. And as his own fingers were closing around the ring he was trying to remove from Frodo's finger, he realized that he too was condemned. He would have to leave Middle Earth way sooner than he ever expected.

Aragorn could still see Legolas fighting against his unvisible ennemy as in a sudden, Frodo reappeared before his eyes. He got the confirmation of what he suspected: Frdo has surrendered to the power of the One Ring and Legolas had managed to free him. 

Frodo was twisting on the ground as Legolas was raising on his feet. The Ring in his palm was burning the elf as white-heated iron, and in the same time, he could feel an incredible cold spreading inside of him. He got a glimpse of what Galadriel had been through when Frodo made her pass the test of the Ring, at a time still relatively peaceful that seemed to lay a few centuries in the past; but Legolas managed to push away the dark thoughts deep inside of him. One movement woudl free them all.

The hobbit was gazing the elf with eyes full of hatred as he was preparing himself to attack again the one who had just stole his precious. Legolas saw the burning light in his eyes but didn't fear it. "Thou slipped, but thou shalt not fall any more", the elf said softly, before turning quickly towards the end of the cornice, his arm raised above his head, starting a movement that would throw the One Ring into the flames. But Legolas stopped his gesture at once.

He had just glimpsed something or rather someone on one of the walls of Mount Doom. And suddenly, he became aware of plenty of other creatures all around him. 

At the beginning, Aragorn only saw the dark birds that had started to fly furiously around the cornice. Crows. Similar to those which had watched their path at the very beginning of the quest of the Fellowship. Those that Legolas was calling the "crebains of Dunland". The ranger only noticed the human shape when a familiar voice exploded.

"And then... What are you waiting for, young fool?!"

This voice... He had already heard it in the past, he was sure. Legolas' scream gave him the answer.

"**SARUMAN!**"

[to be continued ;) ]

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_Okie, sorry for this delay in the continuation of the fic... Someone "borrowed" my french-english dictionary and "forgot" to return it. So I have troubles for the translation :-(  
(otherwise, the first book/volume would be already over and you would be on the point of reading the beginning of the SECOND BOOK ^^; )_

_I hope that I'll find another dictionnary as good as the one I had, for the continuation :,(..._

_Yet, I need someone for proof-reading ^^;;;;;;;;;;;_ * puppy eyes *.* *


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